How often should I add wood chip/chunks?

[hawkeyes]

How often should I add wood chip/chunks? I heard that meat can only absorb so much smoke. Should I fill my smoke box up with wood chips/chunks one time and be done? Or should I add more everything 30-45 minutes when the smoke goes away?

 

[coffee_junkie]

Depends on the meat but generally I add chips every time it stops smoking for the entire cook time, unless I am foiling (butts and ribs) then no smoke during the foiling time. I am sure there is a point where the meat no longer absorbs the smoke but the way I look at it is that there is no way to know exactly when that is, so as long as you are applying TBS (thin blue smoke) then overdoing it is not a problem. If you have bad smoke you could ruin your meat by oversmoking. 

 

[SmokinAl]

What brand of smoker do you have?

 

[hawkeyes]

What brand of smoker do you have?

Landman Great Outdoors Smoky Mountain 20" x 34" Gas Smoker

 

[hawkeyes]

Landman Great Outdoors Smoky Mountain 20" x 34" Gas Smoker

 

[mballi3011]

Ok next did you alrady change out the chip tray??? If not you need a bigger one. Then I would change the chips after it quits smoking and you can take a knife or something and move the unburnt chips closer to the flames so that they will burn to. Wait about 30 minutes and then change the chips. Now it also depends on the meat that your smoking. A bigger (butt or brisket) I would add chips for the first couple of hour and then tillyou foil. After the foil the meat not takng anymore smok flavor anyway.

 

[hawkeyes]

I haven't replaced the smoker box yet, I am thinking of getting a cast iron fry pan to use. Should I use Foil with holes to cover the pan? Should I fill the whole pan up with chips/chunks?

 

[coffee_junkie]

I haven't replaced the smoker box yet, I am thinking of getting a cast iron fry pan to use. Should I use Foil with holes to cover the pan? Should I fill the whole pan up with chips/chunks?

I tried this with little success. I have an older version of your smoker. I use the box that came with it. I have found that if I use the biggest chunks of wood that I can get in the box and still get the lid on it works best. I can get about an hour, to an hour and a half of great thin blue this way. If you are going to try to change to a cast iron skilliet, try for one with a lid, and yes drill holes in the lid, if you use foil yes punch holes in the foil. But make sure you are about the same distance away from the flame as the original smoke box. The other (and best) alternative is to purchase an amazn pellet smoker. I can get mine to smoke for 12 hours in my GOSM.

 

[hawkeyes]

Did you use the Landman Great Outdoors with the Amazn pellet smoker? If so, where did you put it, off to the side or over the flame?

 

[coffee_junkie]

Did you use the Landman Great Outdoors with the Amazn pellet smoker? If so, where did you put it, off to the side or over the flame?

From the bottom to the top:

Chip box with nothing in it.

9x9 cake pan with a little bit of water (I add this about an hour in to the smoking process).

The tin foil you see is the water pan filled with play sand, covered with tin foil, then covered with another layer of tin foil (this way I just toss the top layer if it gets messed up during the smoke.

Cooking grate.

AMPS.

Snack sticks.

It takes a little messing around to get the correct location and damper settings, but once you get it man it sure is nice not to have to change out chips.

Good luck!

 

[hawkeyes]

Thanks for the information! I'm a newbie and curious on what the sand is doing for this?

 

[hawkeyes]

Thanks for the information! I'm a newbie and curious on what the sand is doing for this?

 

[coffee_junkie]

The sand takes the place of the water in the pan, the waters biggest function (sausage making aside) is to act as a heat sync. Sand does the same thing it holds the heat so when you open the door and close it, it takes less time to get back up to temp. It also keeps things from getting too hot also.

The water on the bottom is for making sausage, keeping the casings from drying out, and also to give the smoke something to 'stick' to, but this only applies to sausage.

If you are smoking butts, briskets, chicken, ribs, or any other meat there is really no need for water so sand is the way to go in my opinion. You will want to use play sand, because it is clean.

 

[hawkeyes]

Thanks!!